


(In)dependence

by yukiscorpio



Category: The Last Remnant
Genre: Adult Qubine, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-21
Updated: 2014-08-21
Packaged: 2018-02-14 04:05:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2177250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yukiscorpio/pseuds/yukiscorpio
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set post-game (changed ending). Athlum celebrates her first anniversary as an independent country. Her lord, however, has something else in mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	(In)dependence

**Author's Note:**

> Because [grown up Qubine](http://photozou.jp/photo/show/2338969/200303249) hnnnng.
> 
> Gratuitous David/Qubine, for the few of us who ship it.

It was, in many ways, a surprise visit.

It was Qubine's first foreign trip in over a year, having been practically crippled by growing pains for many months, his body stretching at incredible speed to reflect his true age as soon as it was free from the Umbermarici. Aside from the pain, the rapid growth had also left Qubine rather clumsy as he struggled to adjust to his ever-lengthening limbs. That was the primary reason why the duke had made few public appearances until recently. He looked quite the picture of health now if one wasn't aware of his joint and muscle problems, but David had personally witnessed the hardship behind the transformation, having visited Qubine more times than he could count in the past year.

"More wine?"

"More? I'm not sure if this body is ready for such abuse yet."

The Duke of Celapaleis who was now dining in Athlum Castle was no longer a small boy, but a striking man of twenty-odd years who was an inch taller than David (which Rush had pointed out recently, with much sniggering), with long, sharp eyes and a voice that could drive people to distraction. "Waking up one morning and finding one's voice has lowered slightly is quite strange, but at least this is where it stays," he had told David a while ago. "If there is anything to be grateful about out of all of this, it is that the ungraceful period of puberty is truncated to mere months."

Remembering his own awkward years, David had cringed. "I can only agree."

"This is not to say that I will not seek compensation from Rush Sykes for what he did, mind you."

Of course, it wasn't as if Qubine was truly spiteful about losing the Umbermarici, or losing Athlum, for that matter. His visit today, for example, on the eve of the first anniversary of Athlum's independence, showed incredible grace. As for Rush's actions, well, they were both very thankful.

At least David hoped so.

After dinner, Qubine and David retreated to a drawing room. Noticing how heavily Qubine was leaning on his cane, David frowned.

"The journey must've worn you out. Would you rather — "

"You have made the same journey dozens of times for me," said Qubine, looking unconcerned. "And this body will never gain strength if it isn't put through some stress."

If Qubine put it that way then David wasn't going to argue. It wasn't as if he didn't leap out of his seat in delight this morning hearing that Qubine was here to see him.

They went to the balcony. Qubine put his cane aside and leaned against the cast iron railing, a rare smile appearing on his lips when David went to stand next to him, shoulder against shoulder.

"It means a lot to the people of Athlum that you've come," David began, turning to face the other man. "And it means a lot to me. Thank you."

Qubine, too, turned around, his face unreadable. After a few moments of silence, he sighed and grabbed David by the front of his coat, pulling him closer.

David closed his eyes when their lips met.

"Honestly," said Qubine after he finally let David go, "once in a while you could take some initiative."

Yes, that was a habit David still had to beat out of himself. They had had this conversation before, and Qubine had assured him that they were not together simply because he was convenient, and David was not taking advantage of some poor child who didn't know what he was doing.

"My apologies..." David was serious about this. About them. He hoped Qubine understood that despite this bad habit. Why else would he risk his people's wrath to court the lord of their previous sovereign state?

In fact, David was so serious that he was ready to take this further, take an even greater risk. He just had to find the opportunity.

"Hmph. At this rate I feel that I am imposing on you, being the older one."

David arched an eyebrow. "Oh, so now I am the young one who doesn't know how to say no, am I?"

"How am I to be sure about how you feel? Say, have you seen your western walls lately?"

What an odd change of topic. "The walls at our border? I can't say I have. Why?"

"So you mean you were not the one to have painted the words 'fuck Celapaleis' there, then?"

A moment of stunned silence, and David burst out laughing, amused and embarrassed at the same time. Oh, how terrible. Fortunately he knew Qubine wasn't the sort to take this to heart or let it hurt diplomatic relations. "I guess someone just got a little too excited ahead of the Independence celebrations. I'll have it removed forthwith."

Qubine snorted. "You mean you won't be there to personally scrub the wall?"

"With the festivities tomorrow, I won't be able to spare the time I'm afraid." David's arm slid easily around Qubine's waist. "If it said 'fuck Qubine', however, I would have the offender caught and brought in for questioning."

"That is because fucking Qubine is something only you can do."

That words made David's brows shoot up. Was that... permission? They had been intimate, but nothing that could be called intercourse because for so long movement of any sort would cause Qubine pain. David had accepted that there were some things that they might never do, or that Qubine might not want to do.

"Well?" Noting the lack of response, Qubine asked, eyes narrowing in that seductive way of his. "Unless you are not interested?"

Qubine was making an invitation.

Time to take the initiative, David.

"Then I hope your body is ready to be put through some stress."

 

The next day, Lord Qubine was announced as a guest at the start of the Independence celebrations.

After the formalities were over, David left his lover in the hands of his best friend. There were far too many events he had to attend and he would not drag Qubine around with him. Besides, there was something he had to do.

At David's worried face, Rush grinned. "Leave it to me! I'll make sure he doesn't find out."

Rush was very good at keeping secrets, this David had learned first hand. And despite appearances, Rush was capable of excelling at any task thrown at him. David wasn't worried that his friend wouldn't be able to look after Qubine, but about what he had decided to do later.

"Go, Dave. Don't think too hard; just go and do it!"

David took Rush's advice.

It was late afternoon when he finally returned to the castle, all his obligations fulfilled with maximum efficiency, and the task he had set himself completed with the help of his generals and even Qubine's retinue, who secured the area so that he could work undisturbed.

Rush informed David that Qubine had spent most of his time in the castle.

"We had a good chat, actually."

That sounded ominous, somehow. "You did?"

"Yeah, he's pretty smitten with you," Rush said. "Seriously, you guys, just get married already!"

David gave him a look, then left just as he started giggling. Qubine, "smitten" with him? He hoped so, but Qubine wasn't the type to display affection. As for David himself, well, he had never thought he would fall so hopelessly in love with anyone, much less the man who had been his sovereign lord for many years. He had always understood that Qubine was not evil, that they were both restricted by the lives they were born into, and forced to play by the rules already set for them. But in the months he had spent engaged in long talks with Qubine over the arrangements of Athlum's independence, David had also come to know the man behind the child's face.

He could clearly remember that night when he told Rush how desperately in love he was with Qubine, that some of their meetings actually had nothing to do with diplomacy, and how Rush had howled with laughter, saying it was a good thing then that Qubine's prepubescent body seemed to be growing fast. "Unless you're into that sort of thing? Cos if you are, I really don't want to know."

David was not. "But if something goes wrong and his growth stops where it is now, I suppose I would just have to give some things up. People would still make assumptions, I imagine, but if that's how it has to be then it's how it has to be."

"Wow. You really do really really like him a lot, huh?"

He did.

So now, not even a year into their courtship, and David was about to do something he hoped he would only ever have to do once in his life.

He found Qubine in his guest suite, apparently having just bathed — he would wash up to several times a day in the colder months, as heat soothed his muscles — wearing only a robe of black with small amounts of colour accents. The Nassau colours. The castle had made sure to also have provided one in the rich purple of Qubine's house, and it was impossible to tell if this was a conscious choice or if Qubine just wore whatever was close to hand.

Tied just casually around the waist, the robe was opened wide at the top, revealing a chest that was startlingly pale against the black fabric, and quite unmuscled. Qubine had put on some weight now but was still on the thin side, hardly having been able to eat enough for over a decade's worth of growth without dying of emaciation in the process. But he was still astonishingly beautiful.

Memories of the previous night surfaced, Qubine's legs spread and hooked around David's waist, his head tipping back into the pillow, exposing his slender neck as David took him. It was the slowest, and the most intimate sex David had ever had in his life, and Qubine was absolutely breathtaking when he came, face flushed, eyes moist, mouth opened and gasping...

"You're back sooner than I thought."

David reined in his thoughts. "How is your day so far?"

Sitting at a small table, a leather folder on his lap, Qubine dunked a bit of sweet bread into his tea. "Quiet. Looking through some paperwork. Other than that, just resting. Thank you for keeping the rabble entertained, it has been a blissful day."

David wondered if Qubine would still call his retinue that if he found out what they had really been doing today. It all depended on the outcome, he guessed.

He took a seat opposite Qubine and helped himself to some bread. "Rush said he'd been talking with you."

There was something very elegant about the way Qubine ate. "A little."

"What about?"

"Nothing in particular. He seems quite concerned about my growth spurt."

David made a mental note to ask Rush for the details of the conversation. "Will you be fine for the events tomorrow?" There were standard diplomatic procedures that had to be performed; Qubine was the ruler of the neighbouring country, after all.

A roll of the eyes from Qubine. "I would not have come if I thought there may be problems, David. And yes I am fine even after last night; you have not broken me."

Well, it wasn't as if David didn't know that Qubine disliked being coddled. "Am I allowed to at least feel relieved?"

"If you must," said Qubine, closing the folder on his lap and putting it on the table.

It might not seem obvious but David could tell that Qubine was in a good mood. Briefly he glanced out the windows — it was still light outside. Now was a great time to do the things he had planned.

"If you are not working right now, may I request your company?" David got out of his seat and held out his hand. Qubine eyed him, intrigued.

"You may, but I need to first get dressed."

"That is not strictly necessary; we shan't be going far."

"Even so, I'm only wearing — David!" Qubine drew a sharp breath when he was tugged out of his chair, and with one hand he hurriedly try to secure his robe. David lessened his grip and led his lover out of the suite, peeking outside to make sure the coast was clear before slipping out the door. Behind him came a short laugh, Qubine realising that David must be Up To Something and there was only one way to find out what it was.

They stole their way down a corridor, which was curiously deserted — Rush's work, maybe — turned a left, then entered a nondescript door, leading to narrow steps that spiralled upwards.

"If I may." David bent his knees a little. After a dramatic sigh, Qubine hopped on — there was no one else here to see them, and walking up one of the viewing towers of the castle would place too much stress on Qubine's knees.

A few years ago, the thought of carrying Qubine on his back would make not just David, but also his generals and his people recoil. How things had changed.

They went all the way to the top, where they were rewarded with an uninterrupted view of Athlum. It wasn't quite time for sunset yet, though the light had started turning golden, giving the city below them a warm glow.

A wry smile tugged at Qubine's lips. "Very nice. And this is why you take me here, without even giving me time to put some shoes on?"

"Not quite." From a pocket came a telescope. David pulled it to its full length, put it to his eye and searched. Once he found the right spot, he passed it over, pointing at the spot he wanted Qubine to see.

"The western wall. I have had the graffiti removed."

Qubine's smile turned incredulous. Still, he obliged and put the telescope to his eye. "That is what you want to show me? You do know that I'm not truly upset over it."

"Just look."

"I am looking — "

The sentence abruptly ended there. Qubine had found it.

After a few moments, he lowered the instrument from his eye. "David..."

David was on one knee, a ring in his hand.

"Just what do you think you are doing?"

"Asking for your hand."

The wall no longer said _fuck Celapaleis_. The words _MARRY ME_ , however, were fresh and very clear.

"I did ask you to take more initiative, but I certainly had not expected this." Qubine's brows furrowed ever so slightly. "For so long you wished for freedom, and now that you have it, you want to bind yourself to me? On this day, when you should be celebrating your independence?"

Despite his nerves trying to tie knots in his throat, David chuckled. "The two things are entirely different and separate, and you know it."

"I cannot believe you vandalised your own wall."

Still Qubine had not accepted the ring. David felt doubt starting to take over.

"I know that this seems too fast, and given my timing... but please believe me when I say that this has been on my mind for some time." Whatever the outcome here, he would hate for Qubine to think that the sex last night had anything to do with this.

A long pause.

"Rush Sykes told me something interesting today," Qubine said with perfect calm all of a sudden, "that you once said you were prepared to give up on intimacy had I remained the shape of a child, and that you accepted you might still be seen as having some form of perversion anyway."

Well, it wasn't exactly a secret, but David hadn't thought Rush would mention that. "In Melphina, the forest maidens and their sworn knights are celibate, yet their love is strong as jewel steel. I don't intend to belittle their sacrifice but if they can do it, then so can I."

Another long silence.

"Stand up, David."

"I..." It was a "no", then. David didn't know what he had expected to begin with; Qubine was a fiercely independent man. That he might wed was an absurd idea to begin with. And to a man he had not even courted for a year, the first person he had a relationship with?

David felt foolish, but he couldn't bring himself to regret this. In his heart, this was right. It wasn't for Qubine, but perhaps it was only a "not yet"...

As he dipped his head and took a deep breath, trying to gather the strength to stand, a shadow fell over him.

With some difficulty, a hand against the wall to steady himself, Qubine knelt down on his left knee.

"In my conversation with Rush, I told him I am glad to be free from that prison, because this new body allows me to walk beside you without you having to adjust your stride, lets me see you without needing to look up. Because I would loathe for us to have to do that for a lifetime."

At that moment, David heart melted and he nearly jumped for joy. Qubine said "lifetime". He did say that word, didn't he? David did not mishear?

"David. As a lord, you no longer bend knee to me. And as a man, I want us to be equals. So I guess this is the only way." A soft chuckle, enigmatic in the way only Qubine could make a chuckle sound. He shifted a bit, trying to be comfortable. "I would give you my hand, if you would give me yours — "

Qubine didn't get to finish his words, David having shuffled forwards and kissed him so fast he had to grab hold of David's arms before he lost balance and fell. "David — "

Gosh, he was doing this in the wrong order! David pulled back, took Qubine's hand and put the ring where it belonged. Then he wrapped his arms around Qubine.

"My answer is of course 'yes'."

"David — "

"Thank you so much. I — "

"David, my legs."

 

The sound that rang off Qubine's new accessory was so clear that if it had a colour, it would be translucent.

"An alloy of imperium and... orichalcum, is it?"

Of course Qubine could tell what it was just from the sound. He was also superior to David when it came to the skill of mystic arts, so David just watched guiltily as Qubine used the new engagement ring to cast a quick healing spell for his own legs.

"It is imperium and orichalum, yes." David sat down on the bed beside his beloved. "I thought about picking rarer metals, but thought you would favour something that is both beautiful and strong..." he said, and noticed the tiny changes to Qubine's expression, as if amused and delighted. "Hmm?"

Qubine gave a slight shake of his head. "Nothing at all," he said, although something was causing the corners of his lips to go upwards however hard he tried to tame them down. But David knew by now that if Qubine didn't want to tell, then no amount of direct questions or cajoling would make any difference.

"How are your legs?"

"They merely cramped up; it's nothing of consequence."

Just a cramp? Qubine was trembling when David carried him back down the tower. "I'm so sorry. I was overwhelmed..." Ah, how thoughtless of him to not have realised that Qubine was in pain. "I still am."

David was usually cool-headed but compared with Qubine, he still had a lot to learn about remaining calm. He did wish that Qubine would show a little more excitement, just for once, but David would not be a man who liked or disliked his partner's traits depending on what suited his mood.

Qubine snorted. "As long as you can keep yourself together once I've found the right ring for you. But do not expect acts of vandalism."

Once again, David felt like he had won the greatest prize in life. Maybe his joy was evident, because Qubine practically smirked at him, and he couldn't help but lean over and kiss him again. This time Qubine was the one to move closer, tongue sliding across David's lower lip before delving deeper, a hand coming to rest on the back of David's head at the same time.

Almost right away, David pulled back. "You're hurting. Let me go and get a tincture for you."

Qubine's brows gathered. "I said I am fine."

"But you are still shaking." David grasped Qubine's hand; the tremors were still there.

"Why, am I not allowed to also be excited and overwhelmed?"

He was... excited? So much that he was shaking?

"...Oh."

"A little slow today, are we?" Another smirk. "David, you painted a message for me in ten-foot-tall letters and asked for marriage. My heart is not quite made of stone."

David was sure his face was flushed red. "Well, I feel quite the fool."

"That is because you are a fool." Qubine brought David's hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to it, "Now, I know you did not write 'fuck Qubine' on the wall, but I am rather hoping that you would be agreeable to doing so again. Right now, preferably."

Over the years, Celapaleis had made demands of Athlum, and Qubine of David, countless of times. Each was completed, most of the time grudgingly. But today David asked for, and was granted the greatest gift of all from Qubine.

As for this most horrendous, insufferable, selfish request Qubine had just made?

As if David would ever refuse him.

"Yes, my love."


End file.
